Liquid Adventures 'Day of Creekin' Spring Creek Boat Clinics

Updated for 2009

Coming again, on Sundays in April, Liquid Adventures is offering a class in the basics of creeking, instructed and led by Tom McEwan.

Whether it be the Top Yough or the Lower Big Sandy or another river, we will meet at a convenient place to set up shuttle for the section we will run that day.  Naturally, at this time of year there is no predicting which rivers will be running on any given weekend, but we can say with certainty that there will be a creek or small river running somewhere in west Virginia that will be fun to run.  As the rivers require, we will stop to spend time working on specific skills - on running falls, or how to scout a complicated series of rapids, emphasizing elementary skills for running steep gradient and making the tight moves like, boofing, hole surfing, seal launching and setting appropriate safety.

The Rivers: A day or two before we make our final plans, we will be checking levels on the following rivers in the Northern Appalachians: the Lower Big Sandy, Top Yough, Middle Fork of the Tygart (Audra ST. Park), Tygart Gorge (Belington), Kitzmiller section of the North Branch, Shaver's Fork of the Cheat, Meadow Run (near Ohiopyle). These are all class III-IV in difficulty.

Skill Level: Participants in this program should possess a solid roll and are able to catch most eddies in Class III white water. Paddlers who run Dickerson at moderate to high levels are ready for this program.  There may be some weekends that we will designate for a more advanced group and other weekends for less advanced.  If you register for any given weekend, we will make adjustments as needed. 

Cost: $120 or package of 4 for $400.

Registration: click on registration. If you have not already, establish a logon, fill out contact information, and then follow directions to register for 'A Day of Creekin.'' Pick the dates you wish to register. Dates offered are April 5, 12, 19, 26.

What to bring: It would be smart to dress for the worst conditions: there is a 10- 15 degree difference in temperature between the DC area and the highlands beyond Cumberland. Bring a dry top/pants or dry suit, layers of fleece for underneath, something warm to cover your legs (like Hydroskin, paddling pants/fleece or IR Thermoskin), head warmer, Pogies or gloves, your lunch in a dry bag, float bags, and your creek boat.

Transportation: For the sake of efficiency, we like to carpool to the rivers. Once you register, we will email you a message with the email addresses of the others attending, and you will be welcome to contact each other to set up a meeting place and form a car pool.  Tom will already be up at Albright for Cheat Training and will meet somewhere near the designated river.